


Keeping an Open Mind

by Bluebeam246



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: De-aged Shiro, Fluff, Gen, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Platonic Relationships, Protective Keith (Voltron), Team as Family, de-aged hunk, de-aged lance, de-aged pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-06 17:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13415964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluebeam246/pseuds/Bluebeam246
Summary: When Keith thought about what might happen while fighting the Galra, this definitely did NOT come to mind... but it happened, and now Keith is left to look after his de-aged teammates while working with Allura and Coran to find a way to turn them back.





	1. Chapter 1

Keith woke up to the sound of screaming. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his Bayard, and sprinted into the hallway.

"What...."

There were kids in the hallway. 2 of them, both looking about 7, were running around in panic, the oldest one, looking about 9, was standing off to the side, obviously very confused but trying to stay calm. The youngest, who looked to only be about 4 or 5 was pacing back and forth with their hand on their forehead, and they were muttering something about 'tests'.

When Keith came out of his room, all activities stopped and all of the kids stared at him, some in relief and others in confusion. Then the 9-year-old walked over to Keith.

"Keith? how are you not... not..."

Then suddenly Keith realized something. the kids all looked like his teammates. The kids that had been running around were Lance and Hunk, the youngest was Pidge, and the oldest was...

"Shiro? What happened to you guys?"

Before Shiro could even attempt to answer, Allura and Coran came running down the hallway.

"We have a prob-" They froze in their tracks when they saw the much younger paladins.

"I guess you realized that?" Coran said, but then he looked at Keith. "Why are you the only one not affected?"

Keith shrugged, then replied "I don't know. What about you guys? You still look the same."

Before the conversation could continue, Keith felt someone tugging on his sleeve. He looked down and was surprised to see he was actually surrounded by his teammates. It was Pidge who had tugged on his sleeve.

"Keif, what are we gonna do? we can't jus stay wike dis fowever!"

Pidge then seemed really confused.

"And why can't I say words cowectwy?"

Keith struggled to keep from laughing, but the others seemed to have no such intentions. Allura giggled quietly, while everyone else started laughing uncontrollably. Pidge glared at them all. "Whats so funny?"

Shiro managed to stop laughing first.

"Sorry, Pidge. It's just VERY different from what we're used to."

"Not to mention it's totally adorable," Lance added in between fits of laughter. Pidge crossed her arms and glared even harder, but it didn't have the effect she was hoping for, as it only caused the paladins to laugh even harder.

During all of this, Keith was sitting with his back against the wall just watching this all get worse.

Pidge gave up her attempts to look tough and sat down by Keith.

"Our team sucks"

"Yep"

"But sewiously. How come you're not affected?"

Keith sighed. something was definitely going on, and he had a bad feeling that the Galra were somehow behind this.

"I think the Galra might have something to do with it this. maybe I'm the only one not affected because I'm part Galra."

Pidge nodded thoughtfully, but before she could say anything, Coran began talking to the whole group.

"Well, Since Allura and I know nothing about caring for human children, Keith is in charge. Keep track of them while Allura and I find out what caused this and figure out how to reverse it-"

"Wait a minute! How do you expect me to take care of a bunch of kids! I can't even deal with Lance while he's NORMAL! I know NOTHING about kids!" Keith got to his feet, Pidge doing the same.

"We aren't actuawy kids you know... At weast I don't think so" She said cutting off any more protests. Now that he saw her standing next to him, he realized just how short she was now. She barely reached his knees, while Lance and Hunk reached a little above his waist.

The Paladins were glaring at him, then Shiro turned to Coran and Allura.

"We don't need to be taken care of, only our bodies shrunk, our minds are perfectly fine."

Coran just shook his head. "That's all well and good, but you're going to try and tell me you can still reach everything? Can Lance, Hunk, and Pidge even open the doors?"

Shiro took a breath to answer, then hesitated and sighed.

"I guess..."

Allura smiled brightly then. "How about you all head to the lounge and find something to do. Coran can bring toys and other things you might need." She then turned to Keith, who was still in disbelief at this turn of events. "You'll be fine."

"Unbelievable." He said under his breath as Lance and Hunk grabbed his hands and began dragging him to the lounge, closely followed by Shiro and Pidge.

 

* * *

 

Keith sat on the couch with Shiro as the other Paladins played around, a reading tablet on his lap. Pidge and Hunk stood facing each other with piles of pillows each while lance ran between them, dodging pillows as they threw them at him.

Shiro leaned Into Keith's side as they sat there in a comfortable silence, but soon he began to feel a strange urge to go join in the fun. He hadn't felt like this for years. Looking towards Keith, He saw the red paladin was watching the others play with a soft smile on his face. Then Keith turned to face him. .

"You know, Just because you want to seem like the strong leader doesn't mean you can't have fun. I can tell you want to join them." he nodded towards the others. "Just go. You don't have to be the adult all the time. Just take this as an opportunity to relax and be a kid again." Shiro smiled, then jumped off the couch and joined the playing kids.

 

* * *

 

They continued like that for hours. The now younger Paladins coming up with new games, but they were never able to get Keith to join in. He always just waved them off and continued to sit on the couch. After a while, they could tell he was becoming restless. Keith was never the kind of person to sit still for too long.

"I'm gonna go train." He got up from his spot on the couch and began to walk towards the door. Before he could get halfway there, he heard a rush of footsteps before he felt something heavy land on his back and grab hold, latching itself firmly in place. It was closely followed by two others latching onto his arms.

Keith looked down in confusion at Lance and Hunk as they hung off his arms and Pidge who had attached herself to his back. "Um. What are you doing?" They just laughed and held on tighter. Looking at Shiro for help, he just got a laugh and a shrug.

"Guys, really. What are you doing?"

Lance then looked at him like he was crazy. "We're coming with you of course. We're BORED!" Keith was thoroughly confused. "And since when am I the one you come to when you're bored?" Lance and Hunk just shrugged, then they began to drag Keith towards the training deck, Shiro following behind.

They reached the big white room and finally released him. "Let's to the maze! Just, not invisible, and not electric." Pidge jumped down from Keiths back and ran towards a control panel. "I can do dat!" She quickly got to work, and pretty soon the maze was taking up half of the room, leaving the other half for Keith to train in against the gladiator.

Soon enough, Keith was lost in the battle and hardly even noticed that the others had stopped their playing and were just sitting there watching. It was amazing to watch. They had never really noticed how GOOD Keith was. He easily took out a level 3 bot, and actually beat a level 4. He was on his second level 4 bot when he got disarmed.

They all expected him to end it there, Tell the training sequence to stop, but he just continued on. Sliding under a particularly high swing, Keith got to his Bayard then continued like nothing had happened. Within around 30 seconds, He stabbed the bot through the middle and came to a stop. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he realized how quiet the room was.

He turned to see 4 pairs of eyes trained on him. Feeling uncomfortable under their gaze, he shrugged, "What?" Before any of them could answer, Pidge let out a huge yawn, closely followed by Lance, Hunk, and even Shiro.

"Ok. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed." Keith said, deactivating his Bayard. The others nodded and began walking towards the door. Keith stayed at the back of the group, walking between Pidge and Shiro.

Keith felt someone grab his hand he looked down in surprise to see Pidge was almost asleep on her feet. "You think you're going to make it?" He asked quietly, not really knowing what to do in this situation. Pidge blinked up at him tiredly, reaching up with both hands in the universal gesture for wanting to be picked up. Glancing at Shiro, who gave him a shrug, He sighed and carefully lifted her off the ground. Instantly, she latched onto his shirt and curled into his chest, falling asleep.

"Wow... Someone was tired." Shiro laughed as he said this. Keith glared at him. "Can you get Allura? She's gonna need to get Pidge ready for bed." Shiro nodded and ran off towards the bridge. Lance and Hunk split off and went into their own rooms, while Keith carried Pidge into hers. As he set her down on the bed, he realized that she wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon. "Hey, Pidge, you gotta let go now, I have to go to bed." He urged gently. "N't now Matt, 'm tired." He froze at that. How is he supposed to respond to that? He just sighed and leaned back against the wall, resigned to just wait for Allura.

A few minutes later, she walked into the room to see Keith, asleep, leaning against the wall, Pidge holding tightly onto the front of his shirt. Holding back a smile, she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Keith?" He woke easily. "What? oh, yeah. She wouldn't let go..." He trailed off awkwardly as he looked down at the sleeping 4-year-old. Allura failed to keep the smile off of her face. "Yes. I see that." Gently, she pried Pidges fingers from Keith's shirt and took her from him so he could stand.

He nodded tiredly and left the room, heading towards his own. He changed into his night clothes and collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep almost instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

Crying, That's what woke Keith up in the middle of the night. He got out of bed and went into the hallway, heading towards where the sound was coming from. He got to Shiro's room, but by then the crying had died down to quiet sobs. Opening the door, he saw Shiro curled up under his blankets, in the corner of his bed farthest from the door.

Keith entered and sat down on the bed. "Hey Shiro, you ok?" the sobbing slowed down and Shiro threw himself at Keith, causing him to stiffen slightly. He quickly relaxed and pulled him into a hug. "Hey, you're ok." Keith murmured as he rubbed comforting circles on Shiro's back.

"I was back there. SHE was there." Keith knew immediately Shiro was talking about his time captured by the Galra and the witch Haggar. "You're safe now. We're here. Some smaller than others, but here." That earned a small laugh from the 9-year-old. After a few more minutes, Shiro had calmed down quite a bit.

"How'd you know?" Keith looked at Shiro in confusion. "That I had a nightmare." He clarified. Keith just shrugged. "I heard you from my room." Keith saw the look of confusion. "All the way down the hall? I was being that loud?" Keith thought about it for a moment. "No. You weren't that loud... I don't know how I heard you..."

He felt Shiro elbow him gently in the side. "It's that big brother instinct." Keith just scoffed. "If it is, I got it from you." Shiro laughed at that and nodded in agreement.

As they sat there, Shiro leaning against Keith's side, soft snoring began to fill the room. Keith looked at the peacefully sleeping Shiro and sighed. "Why do you guys always fall asleep on me?" He said quietly, but he had a small smile on his face. As he went to get up, Shiro grabbed onto his arm.

"What if I have a nightmare again?" Shiro was half asleep, and he looked up at Keith with pleading eyes.

"You want me to stay?" Shiro nodded and tugged on his arm. "Man, you must be tired." Keith sighed as he lay back on the bed. Shiro just mumbled in reply and burrowed into his side. Pretty soon, both of them were asleep.

* * *

 

After Breakfast, the group gathered in the lounge again and this time, there were a ton of pillows piled in the middle. Lance's eyes grew wide and he began grinning. "Hey Hunk, you thinking what I'm thinking?" He said, and Hunk nodded. They dove forward and grabbed some pillows, then threw them at Keith.

"PILLOW FIGHT" Keith caught one of the pillows and deflected the other into Shiro, who got hit in the side of the head. Shiro grabbed the pillow and threw it back at him, but he ducked. Pidge ran past the two and dove into the pile of pillows as well, laughing. Shiro charged Keith and pushed him into the pillows, smirking mischievously. Keith landed on his back with a grunt, and instantly, the now younger Paladins jumped on him, burying him in pillows.

Shiro watched, cracking up, as Keith fought off his attackers. Suddenly, A gloved hand latched around Shiro's wrist and he was pulled into the fight. "Us vs Keith! Go!" Lance shouted, and Keith smirked, sitting up while half-buried in the pile of pillows. "That's hardly fair, you guys have no chance."

As he said that, someone jumped on his back and clung on. Judging by the short arms, It was Pidge. Keith fell backward, spreading his arms, and flopped on her, pinning her against the pillows. "Oh no. I'm dead," he said dryly. She yelped then began giggling as she struggled to get him off. Lance, Hunk, and Shiro were laughing their heads off, then they lunged and began trying to pull Keith off. He slumped against their attempts, and they couldn't move him more than a few inches.

Eventually, Keith allowed himself to be rolled off, then they piled on top of him. "wow, you're heavy." He wheezed as Pidge sprawled across his chest and stomach while Shiro, Lance, and Hunk pinned his arms and legs. Keith got an arm free and dragged Pidge off of him, tossing her into the huge pile of pillows. She squealed as she was instantly buried in the pile. Keith managed to free himself and he rolled away.

They continued having a huge pillow fight for about an hour before everyone collapsed in exhaustion. Keith leaned back against the couch, absentmindedly watching the others, thinking. They were acting slightly different today. More immature than before. He really hoped he was wrong, but he began to think that maybe, with each passing day, they might change more and more until their mental age reflected the physical age. If that did happen, he would be in serious trouble.

They mustered up enough energy to pick up the pillows and put them back in a big pile, then they stumbled towards the couches and collapsed on them. Keith took up most of a couch on his own, Hunk and Lance shared another, and Shiro and Pidge used the last.

As they drifted off to sleep, Allura came in the room. "Keith, could we talk to you for a tick?" He raised his head and nodded, pushing himself to his feet. They quietly left the room and walked a short distance away. "Coran and I might have found the source of our - situation..." Suddenly Keith was wide awake. "We found a vial connected to the castle ventilation system. We are unsure what was in it, but we are working on identifying it."

Keith nodded hesitantly. "That's not all, is it." She shook her head, eyes clouded with worry. "It seems like it might be the work of the Galra. That would explain why you are unaffected. Coran and I had a 10,000-year buffer, you have Galra blood, but the others have nothing to protect them." He had already guessed that the Galra were behind it, so that wasn't much of a surprise.

"You will find a way to reverse this though, right?" She nodded quickly. "We will do everything in our power to fix this, you can be sure of that. In the meantime, we need to stay away from any Galra at all costs. We can not afford to get into a prolonged battle." He nodded and she smiled at him before turning and walking down the hallway.

Before he entered the lounge, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now that they had found the cause, they could reverse the effects. He walked back into the room and flopped back on his couch, staring at the ceiling, finally managing to fall asleep

* * *

 

Shiro felt somebody shake him awake and blinked open his eyes to see Pidge and Hunk standing by him, and Lance was sneaking towards a sleeping Keith with a marker. Knowing what they had planned, and knowing it wouldn't work, Shiro sat back and prepared to watch the show.

As Lance approached, Shiro noticed the slight change in Keith's breathing, signifying that he was now awake and aware, yet still pretending to sleep. Shiro had tried this trick before while the two boys were growing up, yet he had never succeeded. Keiths past experiences resulted in him being an incredibly light sleeper, and when he didn't wake up because he heard something, his instincts would kick in and wake him up instead.

Lanced reached forward slowly with the marker, then let out a very high-pitched scream as Keith grabbed his wrist before he could get the marker anywhere near his face. The three de-aged paladins watching the scene unfold burst out laughing, struggling to breathe. Lance pouted as Keith released his wrist, rolled over so his back was towards the room, and tried to go back to sleep.

"Keeif! Come on! we're bowred!" Pidge and Hunk ran over to Keith's couch and joined Lance in his attempts to get the red paladin to get up and play with them. Shiro narrowed his eyes in slight confusion. While Lance and Hunk could act immature at times and Pidge was already young to begin with, this was a little much for them. As he continued to think about it. he was surprised to realize that some of his actions have been slightly odd as well. He had trouble focusing on the task at hand and was contently getting distracted by little things around him.

When Keith finally sat up, Shiro got up and walked over to him. "Keith, could I talk to you for a sec?" He nodded while looking at Shiro in slight confusion. They walked into the hallway and closed the door behind them. "What is it?" Keith asked, leaning back against the wall. Shiro took a deep breath, then made up his mind. "Have you noticed anything strange about how we've been acting? I'm starting to doubt whether our minds are as unchanged as we first thought."

Keith shook his head and sighed before reluctantly responding. "I should have known you would have noticed eventually. I noticed the first day that you guys weren't acting quite right." Shiro crossed his arms and struggled to keep from overreacting. "Why didn't you say anything!" Keith's eyes widened in surprise at Shiro's actions. Thinking about it now, he realized it did sound rather childish. Shiro sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat. He saw Keith reach out to put a hand on his shoulder, but he hesitated, unsure what to do.

Shiro was done fighting. He was trying so hard to be strong like he normally was, but he was having more trouble controlling his emotions. He finally gave in and rushed forwards, grabbing Keith in a tight hug. He felt Keith tense in confusion before he knelt down and returned the hug hesitantly. Shiro didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. He didn't want to be stuck like this forever, and he didn't want Keith to have to deal with this alone.

"Shiro, whats wrong?" Keith asked, pulling away slightly so he could look at him. "It's just... Its been really hard to keep my emotions in check recently, and... I'm scared. I'm scared that we won't be able to fix this and you'll be alone. Sure we'll still be there, but we can't help you fight like this." Keith raised an eyebrow at that and sat down with his back against the wall. "That's what you're worried about? Me? Shiro, I'm not the one who was turned into a 9-year-old." Shiro sat next to him and looked up to meet his eyes. "While you're worried about me, I'm worried about all of you! You can't fight like this, and if something happens and I'm not there, you're defenseless!"

Shiro never really thought of that. Maybe he would have if he could think clearly, but right now, he had only thought about his own worries. Shiro leaned into his side and pulled Keith's arm around his shoulder. "You'll be there. You may not have noticed, but you can be extremely protective. I know you'll be there if anything happens."

Keith smiled down at Shiro and ruffled his hair, the smile turning into a smirk. Shiro scowled playfully and pushed his hand away, surprised at how much effort it took. Then Keith got to his feet, pulling Shiro up with him.

as they opened the door to the lounge, the castle suddenly shook and alarms started going off. "A galra fleet is here, and they're attacking the castle!" Allura's voice came over the intercom. "Keith, get to your lion, the rest of you head to the bridge and try to give him some cover fire with the drones!" Shiro felt a thrill of fear at the thought of Keith going out there alone, but he knew there was no other choice. Grabbing the red paladins arm before he could run off, Shiro gave him a quick hug, which Keith surprisingly returned. "I'll be careful."

Then Keith was gone, and Shiro was pulling Pidge onto his back so she wouldn't be left behind, and the group of young paladins ran for the bridge. The doors slide open as the castle shook violently again. Each of the paladins ran to their seat and pulled up the drone controls. Shiro waited impatiently as the screen flickered to life and his drone darted out into the battle.

Red was already out there, and he could see it flying through the cloud of Galra fighters, completely decimating them as it went. Shiro quickly followed and shot at any fighter that looked like it was about to shoot the single lion. They continued like this for a while, Keith blazing the trail and the other paladins watching his back. Suddenly the red lion turned around and shot a blast right past Shiro's drone. He heard an explosion and checked the back cameras to see the smoking remains of a fighter that had snuck up on him.

Then the lights in the castle went dead, and the screens disappeared. "Whats happening?" Shiro asked, glancing at Allura. Her eyes were wide with fear. "Galra soldiers have gotten on the castle." She quickly turned on her communicator and tried to contact Keith, but the signal was blocked. "We need to get you somewhere safe. You cannot defend yourselves, and we cannot contact Keith."

Before any of them could answer, the doors blew open and a small group of soldiers ran into the Bridge. They immediately blasted Allura and Coran with stun shots and Grabbed the paladins. Shiro struggled, but then the soldier holding onto him slammed the end of their gun into the back of his head, knocking him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it couldn't all be fluff. Sorry for the cliff hanger (not really ;) and thank you so much for the nice comments! They really help inspire me to continue writing this story!


	3. Chapter 3

Something was wrong. Nobody was answering the Castles comms, the drones and castle defenses had stopped firing, and Keith caught a Galra ship hovering around the walls. A shot slammed into the side of his lion, forcing him to focus his attention back on fighting. "Dammit. I don't have time for this." He fought even harder, destroying Galra ships left and right.

He could feel frustration and fear clamping down on his chest, making it harder and harder to think about the battle until he just stopped. He stopped thinking and just acted. He felt red's energy surge around him, filling him with determination to finish this fight and get back to the castle and save his friends. With a roar, Red surged forward, activating their flamethrower and vaporizing the ships surrounding him. He melted the Ion cannon on the final battlecruiser.

One that was dealt with, he darted towards the castle, making a rough landing in his lion's hanger. Pulling out his Bayard and activating it, he moved out into the halls, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Soon enough, he found a break in the castles hull and it led the interior of a Galra ship. Still not seeing anyone, Keith continued on towards the bridge.

He froze when he heard footsteps, accompanied by the sound of someone struggling. Hiding behind a pillar, he peered around it cautiously and saw a group of Galra soldiers. They were dragging Allura and Coran, who were unconscious, behind them, and one carried an unconscious Shiro. He could see that Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were still struggling to escape, but they weren't having any success.

Taking a deep breath, he prepared for this next fight. He couldn't afford to charge in head first, or his teammates could get hurt, or even killed. The group was drawing closer as he struggled to come up with some kind of plan. He would free Pidge first, as she was the closest to him and in the most danger because she was the smallest. Hunk and Lance would be next because they could get away after they were freed. Then he'd have to grab Shiro, or else he might be used as a hostage.

He was forced to duck father into his hiding place as they passed him, and he could see Allura and Coran begin to stir. Now was his chance. Darting out of his hiding place, he rammed into the sentry holding Pidge, slicing the arms off at the elbows. She yelped in surprise as she was suddenly dropped to the ground, but he didn't have time to check on her.

He pulled out his dagger as he charged the next two sentries, using it to take out both at once. Lance and Hunk were more prepared and managed to land on their feet before grabbing Pidge and running down the hallway, disappearing around the corner. The fighting must have woken Allura and Coran because they began struggling against the sentries holding them hostage, managing to free themselves. As they did, Keith charged the single Galra soldier that had accompanied the sentries onto the ship and who was carrying an unconscious Shiro.

The soldier snarled at him and reached for their blaster, But Keith was on him before he could draw it. he snatched Shiro from the soldiers grasp while thrusting his sword forward, impaling the Galra in the shoulder and forcing them to release their hold. Before he could think about it too much, Keith withdrew the sword and dealt the final blow, ending the threat.

The silence was almost suffocating after the chaos of the fight, but it didn't last long. There was a rush of footsteps and small arms wrapped around his middle and causing him to stumble. He readjusted his hold on the unconscious Shiro, making sure he wouldn't drop him, before hugging Pidge back. He could feel her shoulders shaking as she sobbed, making him kneel down to hug her better. "Hey, you're alright..." He said awkwardly, rubbing her back. He glanced around and saw that Allura and Coran were hurrying over, while Lance and Hunk were coming from the other direction.

"You arrived just in time Keith," Allura said with a smile as she reached them, putting a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "How's Shiro?"   
He glanced down at the 9-year-old in his arms and was relieved to see that he seemed to be alright, just unconscious. "He seems okay. Allura, we have to get out of here. I took out as many of their ships as I could, but I can't do much on my own." She nodded and stood, rushing back towards the bridge. Keith turned to Coran, getting to his feet and shifting Shiro to get a better hold.

"We should get Shiro to the Medbay." Coran nodded and turned to go ahead of them and get everything ready, The other paladins following after Pidge had calmed down. As he walked after the group, he ran a gentle hand through Shiro's hair. "I got you, Shiro, You're safe now." after he said that, Keith could have sworn he saw a slight smile on Shiro's face before he went completely limp.

* * *

His head hurt. He was floating somewhere between awareness and being totally out of it. He remembered being hit in the head by the galra soldier, then nothing for awhile. Now he heard uniform footsteps. Then they were interrupted and everything was chaos. Someone pulled him away from his captor and he felt familiar armor and could hear the sound of a sword hitting metal.

Then the fighting seemed to be over and he heard a voice that he knew and that he completely trusted. The person carrying him now was careful and warm. He knew it couldn't be Lance or Hunk, and Allura and Coran sounded too far away. Keith had made it. He somehow knew something had happened and got here in time to save them.

Keith's hold on him tightened slightly and Shiro fought to fully wake up and reassure him that he was ok, but he was too tired and he couldn't even manage to twitch his finger. A gloved hand ran through his hair comfortingly and he heard Keith say something to him. "... Safe now." Managing a slight smile, He finally allowed the darkness to claim him.

Next thing he knew, he was waking up in a bed in the medbay, blinking open his eyes to see Keith leaning on the bed next to him. "Hows the head?" Thankful for Keith talking quietly and unwilling to speak himself, Shiro just shrugged and sat up. He was shocked when Keith pulled him into a tight hug but he quickly returned it.

"You really had me worried there." If he was surprised to get the hug, it was nothing compared to this. Keith never really liked to admit when he was worried or scared. This must have scared him more than Shiro had previously thought. The adult part of his brain didn't want to appear weak by needing comfort, but right now that part was tired, and the part of his mind that matched his body wanted to feel safe, and Keith was safe.

He crawled over and curled into Keith's chest, not sure who he was trying to comfort. It worked though because Keith wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on his head. "You'd make a really good big brother, you know that?" Shiro mumbled into Keith's shirt, smiling slightly when he felt him freeze in surprise before he responded. "Well, I had to learn it from someone, right?" Shiro scoffed at that. "Yeah, and it sure as hell wasn't me."

Keith leaned back when he heard that. "What do you mean?" Shiro shook his head and looked down. "I left. I wasn't there when you needed me." Keith forced him to look up and meet his gaze. "I never blamed you. I might have blamed the Garrison for sending you away, or the Galra for taking you, but I never blamed you. It wasn't your fault you were assigned that mission, and it wasn't your fault you were captured by the Galra." Shiro nodded and smiled slightly before leaning back into the hug.

They sat like that for awhile before there was a quiet knock on the door. Shiro scrambled back and settled on the bed where he had been before. Allura came in and smiled when she saw Shiro was up. "Great! you're awake! Well, we have some good news. We found out a way to reverse this transformation." Both of their eyes widened. "That's great? how long will it take?" Her smile dropped slightly at the question. "Its extremely far away, so it will take at least a - what do you call it... a week to get there, but once we have it, it will work overnight."

As she turned and left the room, she paused and said over her shoulder with a knowing smile on her face, "Oh, and the other paladins are waiting for you two in the lounge," and then she was gone.

* * *

Together, Keith and Shiro made their way down the halls towards the Lounge. If Shiro was walking a little closer to Keith than usual, neither of them mentioned it. They walked through the door and were immediately met with excited shouts. "Shiwo! You'we okay!" Pidge launched forward and wrapped her tiny arms around his waist, closely followed by Lance and Hunk. Shiro smiled and hugged them back before they dragged him towards the center of the room where a huge blanket fort had been built. one of the couches made up a wall while the other two were piles of pillows. The roof and entrance were made up of a large blanket the draped over the entire thing.

"Come on! Let's tell stories and stuff!" Lance said, diving straight in. Shiro shrugged and entered next, but Pidge and Hunk grabbed Keith's hands and tried to drag him in too. "come on! it's mandatowy team bonding!" Pidge said, not managing to make him move an inch. Hunk had more success. "Come on, Keith! Just cause you're not de-aged like the rest of us doesn't mean you can skip it." Sighing, Keith allowed himself to be dragged in and leaned up against the couch. He was in the middle because he was the biggest (which he was still getting used to), with Shiro and Hunk on either side of him. Pidge climbed up onto his lap and leaned back against his chest, making herself comfortable, and Lance sat cross-legged near Hunk.

They told stories for hours, some made-up and extremely full of action and enthusiastic acting (Mostly lance) and others were true stories from their childhood. Keith didn't tell any stories, mostly because he hadn't had the happiest childhood until he met Shiro. None of them pushed him and he was thankful, but it was actually kind of fun to listen to the others tell tall tales and stories about funny things they had experienced.

He didn't realize how tired he was until he had to force his eyes to stay open. The stress from the past few days was finally catching up to him, and he couldn't fight off sleep any longer. He felt Shiro lean into his side and pull one of Keith's arms around his shoulder while Pidge stole his other one. Their voices turned into a low murmur until they stopped altogether, and Keith was finally asleep.

* * *

 

Pidge woke up and reveled in the warmth surrounding her. She was covered with a blanket while leaning against Keith's chest and completely surrounded by her surrogate family. Blinking a few times to clear the sleep from her eyes, she began thinking of different tests she could run to try and prevent something like this in the future, but each time she got close, something distracted her and she forgot. Her sigh of frustration was quickly cut off when she heard and felt Keith shift behind her. He yawned and stretched his one free arm, the other still held captive by a sleeping Shiro.

"Hey," he said quietly before he noticed the remaining frustration on her face. "Whats wrong?" She huffed and crossed her arms before leaning back into his chest. "I can't fowcus on anyting, I keep getting distwacted evewytime I get cwose to a sawution." He hummed slightly in sympathy before ruffling her hair slightly. "Well, we found the cure for this, and the transformation is probably whats causing it, so I wouldn't worry too much about it." She nodded and hugged the blanket closer while leaning into his chest, not wanting to get up.

It was a few minutes until she spoke again, but she was sure that Keith was still awake. "You're a wot like Matt... It's nice to know I have more bwothers to wook out for me." He breathed in sharply in surprise, but she didn't give him a chance to respond before continuing. "And It's awso nice to have more bwoders to mess with!" He chuckled softly at that and leaned back against the couch again. "Isn't that what Lance is here for?"

Eventually, they did have to get up and get breakfast, but Pidge didn't have to be happy about it. She pulled the blanket around her shoulders like a cape and stumbled after the group sleepily. based on the castles day and night cycle, it was about 9 in the morning, which was too early for Pidge to be happy about being up. Lance seemed to have the same idea because he looked half asleep. Shiro and Hunk looked just as awake as ever, and Keith was acting like his normal self, kind of in between being happy and tired.

"We should have a movie night tonight!" Hunk suddenly said, causing Lance to apparently forget about his tiredness and perk up immediately. "Yes! Pidge, you have a ton of movies on your laptop, right?" She nodded, less grumpy about having to wake up at a reasonable time.

Keith had walked off to talk to Coran and couldn't hear what they were talking about. Pidge watched curiously as he nodded and left the room. The others noticed as well, but before they could ask, Shiro shook his head and whispered, "Keith's not used to being around others for so long. He's probably a little overwhelmed, not to mention stress."

Pidge felt a little sad after that revelation, feeling kinda bad for being the reason behind Keith's exhaustion, but she shook it off and decided to return to their previous topic. "So when are we gonna set up?"

They frowned as they mulled it over. "Well, we're probably going to fall asleep, so we shouldn't start watching till after dinner, but we can set up now if we want." They all nodded in agreement and hopped down from their chairs, heading off into the hall

They sprinted through the castle, pillaging any pillows or blankets from the various bedrooms. They piled all the pillows and blankets they could find on the biggest blanket they had, Hunk and Shiro dragging it behind them as Lance and Pidge grabbed the pillows and added them to the pile. They ran into Keith on their way to the lounge, His hair still wet from his shower, and he just stopped and watched in confusion as they ran past him.

Despite the fact that they were walking at a relatively fast pace, Keith caught up easily and walked beside them as they continued on their quest. "Do I even want to know what you're doing?" Pidge laughed grabbed his hand, swinging it energetically as they walked. "We'wre setting up fowr movie night!" Then she realized what she was doing and remembered that Keith didn't really like physical contact and dropped his hand. "Sowwy, I don't know why I did dat." He merely shrugged and put both hands in his pockets.

They finally reached the Lounge and began tossing pillows and blankets into the sunken section in the middle of the room. As expected, it did not take long for someone to accidentally get hit and begin an all-out war. Surprisingly, Keith actually stayed out of his, preferring to stand on the sidelines and just watch. He leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a small, fond smile on his face.

He heard Allura and Coran enter the lounge after them and glanced over at them with the approached. Instead of talking, like he expected, they merely stood next to him and watched. The moment didn't last long because eventually, a pillow flew off-course in hit Allura directly in the face. Everyone froze in terror as they waited for her reaction. "Who threw that?" She asked quietly, still looking down at the ground. Everyone involved in the war pointed immediately at Lance whose eyes widened in fear.

Allura looked up with a dangerous smile on her face, the pillow clutched in her hand. Before anyone could even see what had happened, the pillow was already halfway across the room, hitting Lance in the gut with surprising force, and knocking him into the pile of pillows behind him with a muffled 'Oof!' The room erupted in laughter, including Lances, and pretty soon Allura and Coran had both joined the battle.

Keith felt a knot in his chest as he watched the others play. So much could happen in a week, and maybe the cure wouldn't work, or the Galra could attack again and they wouldn't be able to get away. He chewed on his lower lip slightly. They hadn't had any warning about the first attack, so they most likely wouldn't have any before the next attack either. It wouldn't matter. He would be here for his team, his family, no matter what the Galra threw at them. that, he was sure of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, life is pretty hectic right now, but don't worry, I'm still determined to finish this story. Updates might be a little random, but they will happen eventually!

**Author's Note:**

> So I started writing this a while ago, and finally, let one of my friends read it. They helped me decide to actually post this somewhere, and while have posted on Fanfiction.net for awhile now, I haven't posted anything here yet. Anyway, I hope you guys like it so far, and I'm going to try really hard to finish this in a reasonable timeframe! Comments are appreciated, even criticism!


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